Number of connected smart devices to reach 200 billion by 2020

In 2006 there were about 2 billion connected smart devices. Today we are over 15 billion and by 2020 the figure is expected to reach 200 billion units. The data, collected in the latest report on Big Data 2016 by OBS Business School, confirms the growth of the so-called Internet of Things (IoT).

According to the study, the total value of IoT in 2025 could reach $6.2 trillion. By sector, industrial companies and factories are the fastest adopters of IoT solutions (real-time analytics of assembly lines, robotic machinery, etc.), followed by hospitals (wearable monitoring elements, etc.);

Security (biomedical and physical recognition control) and transportation  (self-parking cars or geolocators).

For José María Maroto, author of the report professor of Business Intelligence and Data Management and Technological Innovation at OBS, “ what it is about now is meeting the challenge of the demand for devices at the hardware level and being able to integrate them with current platforms”.

According to Maroto, “there is no alternative and the battle for data must be seized to gain competitive advantages”. In fact, global mobile data traffic grew by 74% 74% in 2015 and the trend is for an eightfold increase by 2020.

The study also provides key data: nearly 65% of the companies consulted for the report believe it is essential to adopt Big Data strategies in order to survive. In fact, more than half say that the correct management of the data they have is already as or more important than the product or service they offer.

And another fundamental fact: 72% of the companies that used Big Data in 2015 exceeded their forecasts, increasing their profits by 8% and experiencing 10% less losses.

In this sense, Big Data is also key in the generation of employment. For the third consecutive year, business intelligence (Business Intelligence) and big data (Big Data) are the main destination for investment, the main source of qualified employment and the main cause of the creation of product and service companies in the field of information systems.

The development of the sector has generated the growth of related jobs and it is expected that the demand for analytical talent will exceed the supply by 50-60%. Data Scientists have become the highest paid in the ICT sector, and already appear at the top of the list of the 25 best professions in the Americas.